CHAPTER 3

HYDRAULIC TURBINE
 HYDRAULIC TURBINES

 The energy source which does not depend on thermal energy input to produce
mechanical output is hydraulic energy. It may be either in the form of potential
energy as we find in dams, reservoirs or in the form of kinetic energy in flowing
water. Hydraulic turbines are the machines which convert the hydraulic energy in
to mechanical energy
 Heads and Efficiencies of Hydraulic Turbines
• (i) Gross head (Hg): It is the head of water available for doing useful work. It is the
difference between the head race and tail race level when there is no flow. It is
also known as static head.
• (ii) Net head (H): It is the head available at the inlet of the turbine. It is obtained by
considering all losses, like loss in kinetic energy of water due to friction, pipe bends
and fittings. If hf is the total loss,
then net head is given by . H= Hg- hf
• (iii) Volumetric efficiency (ηv): It is the ratio of the quantity of water striking the
runner of the turbine to the quantity of water supplied at the turbine inlet.

Where ΔQ is the amount of water that slips directly to the tail race
• (iv) Hydraulic efficiency (ηH): It is the ratio of work done by the runner to the
energy available at the inlet of the turbine.
 Cont…

• Where H is net head and hL = (hLr+hLc)is head loss in the runner and casing. If
leakage losses are considered then actual hydraulic efficiency is,

• (v) Mechanical efficiency ( ): It is the ratio of shaft work output by the turbine to
the work done by the runner

• (vi) Overall efficiency ( ): It is the ratio of shaft work output by the turbine to the
energy available at the inlet of the turbine.
 Cont…

• Generator Efficiency . It is defined as the ratio of: the electric power output of the
generator (Pel) and the power available at the shaft (Ps ).

• Overall Efficiency of the plant . It is defined as the ratio of: the electric power
output of the generator (Pel) and the power available at the turbine inlet (Pw).
 Pelton Wheel Turbines:
:Pelton wheel turbine is an impulse turbine working under high head and low discharge.
In this turbine water carried from the penstock enters the nozzle emerging out in the
form of high velocity water jet. The potential energy of water in the penstock is
converted in to kinetic energy by nozzle which is used to run the turbine runner.
In a Pelton wheel the jet of water strikes the bucket and gets deflected by the splitter
into two parts, this negates the axial thrust on the shaft.

Main component parts of a Pelton Turbine, 1. Nozzle with Spear and Deflector 2.
Casing 3. Buckets 4. Brake nozzle 5. Shaft
 Force, Power and Efficiency of a Pelton Wheel

• The inlet and outlet velocity triangles for Pelton wheel turbine is as shown in figure
below. As the runner diameter is same at inlet and outlet, tangential velocity of
wheel remains the same. In practical case the relative at the outlet is slightly less
than that at inlet due to frictional loss over the inner surface of the bucket. Some
velocity is also lost due to the jet striking over the splitter. Hence , where Cb is
bucket velocity coefficient.

Velocity triangles for Pelton wheel turbine

 Cont…

• From inlet velocity triangle, V1=Vu1, Vr1= V1-U

For maximum utilization (maximum hydraulic efficiency), the speed of the wheel is
equal to half the speed of jet.
 Francis Turbine
 Francis turbine is a reaction type turbine. Earlier Francis turbines were purely
radial flow type but modern Francis turbines are mixed flow type in which water
enters the runner radially and leaves axially at the centre. the main components of
Francis turbines.
 Cont…

• (i) Scroll (spiral) casing: It is also known as spiral casing. The water from penstock
enters the scroll casing which completely surrounds the runner. The main function
of spiral casing is to provide a uniform distribution of water around the runner and
hence to provide constant velocity. In order to provide constant velocity, the cross
sectional area of the casing gradually decreases as the water reaching the runner
• (ii) Guide vanes (blades): After the scroll ring water passes over to the series of
guide vanes or fixed vanes, which surrounds completely around the turbine
runner. Guide vanes regulate the quantity of water entering the runner and direct
the water on to the runner.
 Cont…

• (iii) Runner (Rotor): The runner of turbine is consists of series

of curved blades evenly arranged around the circumference.
The vanes or blades are so shaped that water enters the
runner radially at outer periphery and leaves it axially at its
centre. The change in direction of flow from radial to axial
when passes over the runner causes the appreciable change
in circumferential force which is responsible to develop power.
• (iv) Draft tube: The water from the runner flows to the tail
race through the draft tube. A draft tube is a pipe or passage
of gradually increasing area which connect the exit of the
runner to the tail race. The exit end of the draft tube is always
submerged below the level of water in the tail race and must
be airtight.
 Cont…
• Velocity triangles for Francis turbine: In the slow, medium and fast runners of a
Francis turbine the inlet blade angle (β1) is less than, equal to and greater than
90o respectively. The whirl component of velocity at the outlet is zero (i.e., Vu2=0)
 Cont…
 Design Parameters of Francis Turbine:
Cont…
 Kaplan Turbine
• The Kaplan turbine is an axial flow reaction turbine in which the flow is parallel to
the axis of the shaft as shown in figure 5.5. In which water enters from penstock
into the spiral casing. The guide vanes direct water towards the runner vanes
without shock or formation of eddies. Between the guide vanes and the runner,
the fluid gets deflected by 90o so that flow is parallel to the axis of rotation of the
runner which is known as axial flow. As compared to Francis turbine runner blades
(16 to 24 numbers) Kaplan turbine uses only 3 to 8 blades. Due to this, the contact
surface with water is less which reduces frictional resistance and losses
• Main component parts of a Kaplan turbine
1. Scroll casing 2. Guide blade 3. Adjustable blades 4. Vertical Shaft 5. Draft tube
 Velocity triangles for Kaplan turbine: At the outlet, the discharge is always axial
with no whirl velocity component (i.e., Vu2=0). The inlet and outlet velocity
triangles for Kaplan turbine are as shown in figure
• Design Parameters of Kaplan Turbine
 Characteristic curves of Hydraulic Turbines
 Characteristic curves of a hydraulic turbine are the curves,
with the help of which the exact behaviour and performance
of the turbine under different working conditions, can be
known. These curves are plotted from the results of the tests
performed on the turbine under different working conditions
 The important parameters which are varied during a test on a
turbine are
• Speed (N)
• Head (H)
• Discharge (Q)
• Power (P)
• Overall efficiency (ηo)
• Gate opening
 Cont…
 Out of the above six parameters, three parameters namely
speed (N), head (H) and discharge (Q) are independent
parameters.
Out of the three independent parameters, speed (N), head (H)
and discharge (Q), one of the parameters is kept constant let
us say head (H) and the variation of the other four parameters
with respect to any one of the remaining two independent
variables (say N and Q) are plotted and various curves are
obtained. These curves are called characteristic curves.
 The following are the important characteristic curves of a
turbine.
• Main Characteristic Curves or Constant Head Curves
• Operating Characteristic Curves or Constant Speed Curves
• Muschel Curves or Constant Efficiency Curves
 Cont…

Main characteristic curves are obtained by maintaining a constant head and a constant
gate opening (G.O.) on the turbine. By changing the gate opening, the values of Q u, Pu,
and ηo and Nu are determined and taking Nu as abscissa, the values of Qu, Pu, and ηo are
plotted.

Characteristic curves for the Pelton wheel

Characteristic curves for reaction ( Kaplan and Francis) turbines

Characteristic curves for reaction ( Kaplan and Francis) turbines

 Operating Characteristic Curves or Constant Speed Curves
• Operating characteristic curves are plotted when the speed on
the turbine is constant. In the case of turbines, the head is
generally constant.
• The power curve for turbines shall not pass through the origin
because a certain amount of discharge is needed to produce
power to overcome initial friction.

Operating Characteristic Curves or Constant Speed Curves

 Constant Efficiency Curves or Iso-Efficiency Curves
• These curves are obtained from the speed vs. efficiency and speed vs.
discharge curves for different gate openings. For a given efficiency from
the Nu vs. ηo curves, there are two speeds. From the Nu vs. Qu curves,
corresponding to two values of speeds there are two values of discharge.
• These curves are helpful for determining the zone of constant efficiency
and for predicting the performance of the turbine at various efficiencies.

Constant Efficiency Curves or Muschel Curves or Iso-Efficiency Curves

 Draft tube
 The turbine have to be installed a few meters above the flood water level to avoid
inundation. In the case of impulse turbine this does not lead to significant loss of
head as the available head is high. In case of reaction turbines, this leads to
significant loss of head as the available head is relatively low. This loss can be is
reduced and also the output and efficiency can be increased by connecting a fully
flowing diverging tube from the turbine outlet to the tailrace.
 The advantages of a draft tube are:
• the pressure at the runner exit is below the atmospheric pressure and the lost static
head can be regained.
• the kinetic energy of water at the turbine runner outlet can be converted into useful
pressure energy, hence efficiency increases.
• the turbine can be inspected easily and properly as it is placed above the tail race.
 Cont…

 The important types of draft tubes are

(i) Conical (straight divergent tube) type,
(ii) (ii) Moddy‟s bell mouthed tube type,
(iii) Simple elbow type, and
(iv) Elbow tube type having square outlet and circular inlet
 Cont…
 Efficiency of the draft tube is defined as the ratio of actual conversion of kinetic
head into pressure head to the kinetic head available at the inlet of the draft tube.
Consider V2 is absolute velocity of water at rotor exit, V3 is absolute velocity of
water at draft tube exit and hf is loss of head due to friction